Developing an English Speaking Book Based on Contextual Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and validate an English Speaking Book based on the Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) approach for eighth-grade students at SMPN 1 Noling. The study was motivated by students’ difficulties in speaking English and the need for supplementary materials that could provide structured opportunities for contextual speaking practice. A Research and Development (R&D) design using the 4D model—Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate—was employed. The participants were 24 eighth-grade students. Data were collected through needs-analysis questionnaires, expert validation questionnaires, student-response questionnaires, observations, and teacher feedback. The needs analysis showed that movies and music were the most preferred topic category, while fear of making grammatical mistakes was the most frequently reported speaking difficulty. These findings were considered together with the instructional context in selecting topics for the developed book. The final product consisted of three chapters with three units in each chapter and incorporated vocabulary, useful expressions, dialogues, and speaking activities such as dialogue completion, gap filling, vocabulary matching, pair work, and role play. The product integrated seven CTL components: constructivism, inquiry, questioning, learning community, modeling, reflection, and authentic assessment. Expert validation produced a mean score of 3.88 (97%) from the language expert, 3.70 (92.5%) from the material expert, and 33 out of 36 points (91.67%) from the design-and-layout expert. Student responses produced a mean score of 3.38 (84.5%), categorized as Good. The findings indicate that the developed English Speaking Book was feasible and appropriate as supplementary material for speaking instruction. However, because the study did not employ a pre-test, post-test, or control group, it does not establish a causal effect on students’ speaking proficiency.